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🇸🇪 Sweden /Elections & Politics

Andersson and Damberg to hold a Social Democratic news conference

From Svenska Dagbladet · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Social Democratic leaders Magdalena Andersson and Mikael Damberg are scheduled to present an announcement during the 2026 Swedish election campaign.
  • The government has appointed Maria Larsson to review whether agency heads can leave their posts early without automatically receiving another state position.
  • Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson has not yet decided whether to urge conservative voters to abandon the Liberals, who poll at 2.8 percent.

Sweden’s Social Democrats are due to present a new announcement at a news conference led by party leader Magdalena Andersson and Mikael Damberg at 2:30 p.m. during the 2026 election campaign.

Today, it is not possible to dismiss a director-general early, which creates a deadlock for both the government and agency heads. It is more reasonable for both parties to be able to go their separate ways immediately.

· Erik SlottnerThe civil affairs minister explained why the government wants to review the rules for agency heads.

The live election coverage also reports on a government plan to change the rules for agency heads who leave their posts before their terms expire. Civil Affairs Minister Erik Slottner said the current system creates a deadlock for both the government and agency directors because a director-general cannot be dismissed early.

The government has appointed Maria Larsson to examine how the rules can be modernized. The review will consider whether an agency head can leave without automatically receiving another state job, such as a position in the Government Offices. The existing arrangement has been nicknamed the “elephant cemetery,” where removed agency heads have been reassigned with their salaries preserved until their appointments end.

Instead of slowly cutting up the elephant, we are now burying the elephant cemetery.

· Erik SlottnerSlottner referred to the system of reassigning removed agency heads.

Among those previously placed in that system were Anna Kinberg Batra, Dan Eliasson and Maria Ågren. “Instead of slowly cutting up the elephant, we are now burying the elephant cemetery,” Slottner said.

I think things are starting to move in the right direction for the Liberals. I see it as a positive direction.

· Jimmie ÅkessonThe Sweden Democrats leader assessed the Liberals’ position after their latest poll.

The election coverage also focuses on Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson. He had threatened to urge conservative voters to abandon the Liberals if the party failed to reach 3.5 percent ten days before the election. A Demoskop poll published with ten days remaining put the Liberals at 2.8 percent. Åkesson said he was not ready to issue a decision and wanted to wait for more surveys, adding that he had set no new deadline.

I am not prepared to give an answer here and now. We may have to wait for a few more polls.

· Jimmie ÅkessonÅkesson declined to say whether he would urge voters to abandon the Liberals.
About this summary

Originally published by Svenska Dagbladet in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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